Resilience Planning in Projects

Memoirs of a Gully boy Episode 42: #Resilience – The Invisible Muscle of Success Resilience is like the unspoken hero of every corporate journey. It doesn’t seek attention but quietly shapes outcomes. In the professional world, it’s not about dodging challenges but embracing them, adapting, and bouncing back stronger. Think of resilience as your invisible muscle—strengthened not in comfort but in chaos. Weathering the Storms Years ago, I led a high-pressure project for a global client, managing tight deadlines, changing requirements, and a demanding market landscape. It felt like steering a ship through an unrelenting storm. Preparation became my greatest ally. Detailed risk planning, cross-training the team, and preemptive mitigation strategies were my equivalent of securing the farm before the storm hit. When unexpected hurdles arose—resource shortages, evolving client demands, and technical bottlenecks—we didn’t falter. By adapting swiftly and working as a team, we delivered the project on time. Resilience isn’t about avoiding storms but ensuring you’re equipped to navigate through them. The Rubber Band Effect Resilience is not being unbreakable; it’s about being bendable. One of my toughest assignments involved integrating complex systems across regions, riddled with repeated setbacks. Each obstacle stretched us like a rubber band. But instead of snapping, those stretches made us stronger. We learned to fine-tune our approach, building a solution more robust than initially envisioned. The experience taught me that setbacks are not failures but stepping stones toward growth. Flexibility Over Rigidity In another instance, I worked on a project mired in rigid legacy processes. When market conditions shifted, those processes became liabilities. Recognizing this, I introduced agile practices, encouraging flexibility without compromising structure. This approach not only helped us adapt quickly but also elevated the outcome. Resilience often lies in being like bamboo—bending with the wind instead of breaking like an oak. Resilience in Practice 1. Reframe Failure: A failed system rollout once threatened a client relationship. By reframing it as an opportunity, we rebuilt trust through swift recovery and stronger solutions. 2. Celebrate Progress: Even in high-pressure scenarios, small wins—like clearing a critical bottleneck—are fuel for resilience. 3. Prepare for Change: Just like the farmer who secured his barn before the storm, meticulous planning can protect against chaos. 4. Lean on Your Team: Collaboration is the cornerstone of resilience. A strong team acts like a Formula 1 pit crew, turning pressure into performance. The Iron Core Beneath the Velvet Glove Resilience doesn’t need loud declarations. It’s the quiet resolve that says, “This too shall pass.” The next time challenges arise, let them be your opportunity to grow stronger. Remember, storms may test you, but resilience ensures you thrive. DC*

Disruption doesn’t send calendar invites. In fast-moving, high-growth firms, speed often conceals weak foundations. I’ve seen delivery teams hit turbulence: client urgency, leadership gaps, or sudden events that expose brittle assumptions. True resilience begins before the crisis arrives. Most plans look solid - until they’re needed. They fail not from lack of thought, but lack of testing. That moment someone says “we’ve got a plan” - that’s when you must lean in. Fewer than 25% of firms with formal plans ever practise them. Common failure points in leadership rooms: ➤ Client urgency drowning out risk signals ➤ Delivery teams faltering when a senior principal is unavailable ➤ Polished slides masking fragile assumptions Let’s look at a UK-rooted example with global resonance: In July 2024, a routine update from CrowdStrike took out millions of global endpoints, including many in the UK. Systems crashed across financial firms, retail, manufacturing, and public services. Yet recovery was rapid: teams switched to manual processes, diagnostics ran in real time, patches were rolled back, and core services were restored within hours. It wasn’t a cyber-attack - it was a software failure - but the resilience came from practising failure scenarios and maintaining clear communications. So what do truly resilient firms do differently? ✅ Stress-test relationships, not just protocols → “What if our biggest client pauses mid-project?” ✅ Plan for team absence, not just process failure → “What happens if our lead partner is offline from Day 1?” ✅ Build internal trust before disruption → When chaos hits, people must instinctively believe in each other ✅ Prioritise real-time insight over polished hindsight → Waiting two days to report insight? That insight is gone Here’s the shift: Resilient teams don’t just weather disruption - they use it to transform. They don’t hold the line - they reinvent it. Ask yourself: What’s one fragile assumption in your delivery model that’s never been pressure-tested in real time? ♻️ Share this with someone leading through high-stakes moments. 📌 Follow Richard Goold for reflections on strategic resilience, adaptive leadership, and clarity under pressure.

Projects rarely go as planned. The real test? How your team handles the unexpected. I learned this when a major initiative faced a sudden change. (key requirements shifted overnight) The team was blindsided. Panic set in. Progress stalled. The usual plans, the usual processes—none of it was enough. We needed resilience. It started with building trust. I made it clear: no blame, just solutions. We were in it together. Open, honest conversations followed. What were the new challenges? What did we need to adapt? We mapped out a new plan—quickly, but thoughtfully. Flexibility became our strategy. Roles shifted. Deadlines adjusted. Everyone stepped up, not out of obligation, but out of shared purpose. We leaned on each other’s strengths. By the end, the project wasn’t just delivered—it was better than before. Resilient teams don’t fear change. They face it together, adapt fast, and come out stronger. How do you build resilience in your teams?

Uncertainty is a constant in business, but the way you prepare for it can make all the difference. My approach has always been to plan for uncertainty - and that starts with de-risking your ideas by being clear, intentional, and proactive in communicating value to all stakeholders. There are a few key strategies to keep in mind: 1️⃣ Be Clear on Your Targeted Outcomes Know exactly what you’re trying to achieve and what success looks like. Uncertainty can throw you off track if you’re unclear about your objectives. 2️⃣ Communicate Often and Effectively Master the art of storytelling. Make sure your value story is crystal clear to all stakeholders so that even in turbulent times, your vision and goals resonate. I learned these lessons firsthand during a project at Genentech. The financial support for a team I was leading came from the CEO at its launch. As we grew, the CEO wanted to move that funding down into other teams across the organization rather than directly from a centralized source. This change could have derailed everything. But because we had already communicated the value of our work to other teams and aligned with their priorities, we had the buy-in needed to keep the project moving. That experience taught me the importance of securing broad support early on, especially from the decision-makers and stakeholders who matter most. This is a critical lesson for founders too: Don’t rely on a single champion or narrow support. Broader buy-in not only makes your project stronger but also helps you navigate uncertainty more effectively. When support is distributed, your work is more resilient, and you’re better prepared to adapt when dynamics change. Uncertainty is a constant, but with the right planning, it doesn’t have to be a roadblock - it can even become an opportunity.

🧪💻 Scenario Planning for IT DR: Preparing for the Unthinkable 💻🧪 Now with real-world examples Hope is not a strategy. In today’s volatile environment, IT Disaster Recovery (IT DR) must go beyond static plans — it requires scenario planning and stress testing to prepare for the truly unexpected. 🔍 What Is Scenario Planning in IT DR? It’s the process of modeling potential disaster events — from cyberattacks to natural disasters — and testing how your systems, teams, and vendors would respond. 📊 Gartner reports that only 40% of organizations conduct regular scenario-based DR testing — yet those that do recover 3x faster from major disruptions. ⚠️ Why It Matters * Disasters aren’t predictable — but your response can be. * Complex systems fail in complex ways — scenario planning reveals hidden dependencies. * Stakeholders need confidence — testing builds trust in your recovery capabilities. 🧪 Real-World Scenario Planning Examples 🔹 Case Study: Capital One After a major cloud misconfiguration incident in 2019, Capital One revamped its IT DR strategy to include scenario-based simulations for cloud failures and data breaches. Their new model includes automated rollback protocols and cross-team incident drills. 🔹 Case Study: FedEx FedEx uses scenario planning to simulate regional outages, cyberattacks, and supply chain disruptions. Their IT DR team runs quarterly stress tests across global hubs, ensuring continuity even during peak logistics seasons. 🔹 Case Study: NHS (UK) The UK’s National Health Service implemented scenario planning after a ransomware attack in 2017. Their updated DR strategy includes simulations for hospital system outages, patient data breaches, and coordinated multi-agency responses. 🧠 How to Get Started ✅ Identify high-impact, low-probability events ✅ Build response playbooks for each scenario ✅ Simulate failures across systems, teams, and vendors ✅ Document lessons learned and update your DR strategy 🔁 Repeat regularly — resilience is a process, not a one-time event. 💡 Strategic Takeaway Scenario planning isn’t about predicting the future — it’s about being ready for it. The more you test, the more you learn. And the more you learn, the faster you recover. 👇 Is your IT DR strategy built for the unthinkable? #DisasterRecovery #BusinessContinuity #ResilienceStrategy

A junior once told me: “This endpoint shouldn’t fail. The upstream is solid.” I nodded. Then asked, “Okay, but what if the network hiccups? What if the JSON changes? What if someone deploys on a Friday?” He laughed. But that’s the thing. Assuming failure isn’t pessimism. It’s preparation. Because in production, everything that “shouldn’t” fail eventually will — at 2:17 AM, during a conference, or when the on-call forgot to charge their phone. So we started treating every dependency like it might disappear for 3 seconds. Every write might partially commit. Every cache like it might go missing. And guess what? Things got calmer. Not quieter — but calmer. Failures still happen. They just don’t cause panic. Because we expect them. We’re ready for them. We built for them. That’s what resilience is. Not avoiding failure, but designing systems that bend, don’t break. 💬 Curious: How do you design for failure? Chaos tests? Fallbacks? Circuit breakers? #HowNotToBreakProduction #ResilienceEngineering #ChaosEngineering #DefensiveProgramming #SeniorEngineerThoughts

We’ve been told that having a Business Continuity Plan (BCP) means we’re ready for a crisis. But here’s the truth: A plan is only as good as the last time it was tested under pressure. What most organizations get wrong about resilience: 👉 They mistake documentation for capability. 👉 They focus too much on prevention and not enough on operating through failure. 👉 They assume a linear recovery. But in reality, disruptions are chaotic. What should we do instead? ➡️ Test resilience, not just compliance. Can you function for 48+ hours with zero IT access? If not, the plan needs work. ➡️ Pressure-test crisis leadership. Do decision-makers know who has final authority and how to escalate? ➡️ Embrace “Black Swan” thinking. Expect the unexpected. Your plan should be flexible, not rigid. Do you think most companies are truly prepared for a major disruption?

We often hear the term Resilience, especially during these times, but I will tell you, it does not mean staying strong at all costs. The harsh reality is that in today’s world, we are going to get hit from all angles and sides. Deadlines will move. Plans will fall apart, and people will not deliver. Society will pressure us. Leaders will fold. Unfortunately, there will be tragedies. Chaos has become the new norm. And when that happens, three skills will determine how you lead through it: ➡️ Resilience. ➡️ Flexibility. ➡️ Agility. But how do you actually build those skills as a leader? We continue to hear this advice and inspiration without any implementation. Resilience is about RECOVERY PLANNING. 🔸 Resilience: Bouncing Back Without Burning Out How to build it: * Practice “Recovery Planning” just like you would contingency planning. After a tough quarter, project, or personal challenge, what systems do you put in place to regain energy and focus? * Build in micro-recovery moments during your day. Stretch. Walk. Breathe. Don’t wait until burnout to rest. * Normalize setbacks and failure. Set a failure threshold; anticipate it! Share your setbacks with trusted advisors to show growth and self-reflect. 🔸 Flexibility: Leading Without Rigidity Flexibility is not weakness. It’s the ability to adjust your approach without losing your principles. How to build it: * Ask yourself: “Is this a hill I need to die on?” If not, explore new routes. * Practice detachment from one ‘right way. If you always start meetings the same way, try something new. If you manage one way, try adjusting it for a different personality on your team. 🔸 Agility: Responding Instead of Reacting Agility is the balance between speed and intention. How to build it: * In moments of disruption, buy yourself 30 seconds. Ask: “What’s the real problem here?” and “What’s the wisest next step? * Shorten your decision-to-action cycle. Stop waiting for the full picture before acting. Train yourself to make progress with 60% of the data. None of this requires permission. It just requires practice and the willingness to show up differently when things don’t go as planned. The future will belong to leaders who can bend without breaking. Who stays grounded when others spiral? Who keeps momentum even when the path changes? Start there. #LeadershipRedefined #Agility #LeadingThroughChange #EmotionalIntelligence #EssentialSkills #FutureOfWork